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The Wisconsin Idea
and Social Security*
by Arthur J. Altmeyer
The former Commissioner of Social Security writes of the men, the philoso¬ phies, and the events which shaped one of the most far-reaching programs of our time.
TT WAS a hot, humid, Washington day late ¦*¦ in May of 1937. Together with my associ¬ ates I climbed the broad steps of the Greek temple housing the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the sentence of life or death pronounced on the Social Security Act. To me the Court's opinion that the act was con¬ stitutional, its decision that "Congress may spend money in aid of the 'general welfare'," had a double significance.^ It meant that this legislation was now truly a part of the law of the land; but it also meant that the Court had validated a philosophy of government which I, as a student at the University of Wisconsin, had absorbed many years ago—a philosophy widely known throughout the nation as the Wisconsin Idea.
As far as I have been able to discover, no one really knows the exact origin of either the term Wisconsin Idea or of the term Social Security; apparently each was so obviously an apt label for a comprehensive and dynamic concept that they both came into common us¬ age quickly and unconsciously. But anyone who knows anything about the Wisconsin Idea does know, and does not need to be told again, how much it and the University of Wisconsin were a part of each other.
It is common knowledge that that universal man. President John Bascom, whose interests encompassed rhetoric, esthetics, literature, psy¬ chology, philosophy, and history as well as po-
* Adapted from an address made before the Madi¬ son Literary Club, March 10, 1958.
'Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937).
A drawing by Charles Silver in The Survey, February 15, 1932.
litical economy, was the prime inspiration of his illustrious students, Van Hise and the elder La FoUette, classmates who later became the chief architects of the Wisconsin Idea.
As an earlier McCarthy, Charles R., said in 1912, the sort of political economy that Bas¬ com taught was not the "dismal science" of Adam Smith and other laissez-faire economists, but a "science by means of which order, moral¬ ity and statesmanship could live."^ Merle Curti and Vernon Carstensen, in their book on the history of the University, call Bascom the pioneer in the development of the social gos¬ pel.^
The essence of Bascom's teaching and of the Wisconsin Idea was simply but emphatically expressed in the belief that government had an affirmative obligation to promote the well- being of its citizens, and that the University had an equally affirmative obligation to serve the state in helping to achieve that objective. La Follette, in his autobiography, says of Bas¬ com that "It was his teaching, iterated and reiterated, of the obligation of both the uni¬ versity and the students to the mother state that may be said to have originated the Wis¬ consin Idea in education."*
" Charles R. McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea (New- York, 1912), 21.
' Merle Curti and Vernon Carstensen, The Univer¬ sity of Wisconsin; a History, 1848-1925 (Madison, 1949).
* Robert M. La Follette, La Follette's Autobiogra¬ phy (Madison, 1913), 27.
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The Wisconsin Idea and Social Security: Arthur Altmeyer (1891-1972), one of the chief architects of the Social Security program, traces its origins to the Progressive reforms of his mentors. He discusses the influence of Richard T. Ely (1854-1943), John R. Commons (1862-1945), Edward A. Ross (1866-1951) and Edwin Witte (1887-1960), who believed "very strongly that theory and history should be put to work in the solution of present-day problems." He also offers anecdotes about President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and the creation of the Works Progress Administration and other New Deal programs, and concludes by responding to critics of the welfare state. (7 pages).

Depressions--1929; United States Works Progress Administration; Poverty; Social security; Unemployment;

Full Text

The Wisconsin Idea
and Social Security*
by Arthur J. Altmeyer
The former Commissioner of Social Security writes of the men, the philoso¬ phies, and the events which shaped one of the most far-reaching programs of our time.
TT WAS a hot, humid, Washington day late ¦*¦ in May of 1937. Together with my associ¬ ates I climbed the broad steps of the Greek temple housing the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the sentence of life or death pronounced on the Social Security Act. To me the Court's opinion that the act was con¬ stitutional, its decision that "Congress may spend money in aid of the 'general welfare'" had a double significance.^ It meant that this legislation was now truly a part of the law of the land; but it also meant that the Court had validated a philosophy of government which I, as a student at the University of Wisconsin, had absorbed many years ago—a philosophy widely known throughout the nation as the Wisconsin Idea.
As far as I have been able to discover, no one really knows the exact origin of either the term Wisconsin Idea or of the term Social Security; apparently each was so obviously an apt label for a comprehensive and dynamic concept that they both came into common us¬ age quickly and unconsciously. But anyone who knows anything about the Wisconsin Idea does know, and does not need to be told again, how much it and the University of Wisconsin were a part of each other.
It is common knowledge that that universal man. President John Bascom, whose interests encompassed rhetoric, esthetics, literature, psy¬ chology, philosophy, and history as well as po-
* Adapted from an address made before the Madi¬ son Literary Club, March 10, 1958.
'Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937).
A drawing by Charles Silver in The Survey, February 15, 1932.
litical economy, was the prime inspiration of his illustrious students, Van Hise and the elder La FoUette, classmates who later became the chief architects of the Wisconsin Idea.
As an earlier McCarthy, Charles R., said in 1912, the sort of political economy that Bas¬ com taught was not the "dismal science" of Adam Smith and other laissez-faire economists, but a "science by means of which order, moral¬ ity and statesmanship could live."^ Merle Curti and Vernon Carstensen, in their book on the history of the University, call Bascom the pioneer in the development of the social gos¬ pel.^
The essence of Bascom's teaching and of the Wisconsin Idea was simply but emphatically expressed in the belief that government had an affirmative obligation to promote the well- being of its citizens, and that the University had an equally affirmative obligation to serve the state in helping to achieve that objective. La Follette, in his autobiography, says of Bas¬ com that "It was his teaching, iterated and reiterated, of the obligation of both the uni¬ versity and the students to the mother state that may be said to have originated the Wis¬ consin Idea in education."*
" Charles R. McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea (New- York, 1912), 21.
' Merle Curti and Vernon Carstensen, The Univer¬ sity of Wisconsin; a History, 1848-1925 (Madison, 1949).
* Robert M. La Follette, La Follette's Autobiogra¬ phy (Madison, 1913), 27.
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